Trilogy

A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that develop a single theme even though they are generally created at different times. They may tell an extended story, such as Isaac Asimov's original Foundation series; or involve the same characters or the same setting, as in the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson; or have only the most tenuous of connections, as in the surreal Nova trilogy novels of William S. Burroughs.

Famous trilogies

Novels

• U.S.A., three novels by John dos Passos
• American Trilogy by Philip Roth including American Pastoral, I Married a Communist and The Human Stain
• The Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake
• The Salterton, Deptford and Cornish trilogies of Robertson Davies
• The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis
• The Condor Trilogy by Jin Yong: The Legend of the Condor Heroes (She Diao Ying Xiong Zhuan), The Return of the Condor Heroes (Shen Diao Xia Lu), and The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (Yi Tian Tu Long Ji).
• The Dune Trilogy, on the rule of Paul Atreides was later expanded to six novels, with two more in production based on Herbert's posthumous notes.
• The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies, in which each book explores how a different character reacts to the same event.
• Ogniem i mieczem (With Fire and Sword), Potop (The Deluge) and Pan Wo?odyjowski (Fire in the Steppe) by Henryk Sienkiewicz – a series of historical novels set in 17th century Poland.

Note that this does not include The Lord of the Rings. Although initially published in three volumes, The Lord of the Rings is actually a single work. Tolkien himself divided the novel into six books plus five appendices in keeping with the literary device wherein Tolkien pretends to have "discovered" Middle-earth and to be describing it as befits a scholar of linguistics and ancient history. Ironically, in the 1960s when it burst into worldwide popularity, fans dubbed it a trilogy (or even the trilogy). It is also available in both one-volume and seven-volume editions.

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Plays

• The Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: Oedipus The King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone

Movies

• The Godfather movie trilogy by director Francis Ford Coppola
• Three Colors movie trilogy by director Krzysztof Kie?lowski
• The Star Wars movies - now a double trilogy
• Indiana Jones movies - possibly a future tetralogy
• Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies
• Back to the Future Trilogy
• The Matrix trilogy
• The Terminator series
• The movies featuring the Hannibal Lecter character - actually a tetralogy, but including one remake, and soon to become a pentalogy
• The Jurassic Park movies
• The Porky's movies
• The Scream trilogy